Purpose: To explore the experience of preoperative communication of nurse anesthetists (NAs) in brief meetings with patients in an orthopaedic setting.
Design: Qualitative research.
Methods: Three group interviews based on experiences of 18 NAs were conducted. Content data analysis was used.
Findings: The brief communication was characterized by both difficulties and opportunities. Protecting the patient's integrity, informing worried patients, lack of routines, language difficulties, being present at the meeting, protecting the patient from disturbance, and encouraging the patient to participate were stated as the main challenges in the brief meeting with patients. The NAs also gave some suggestions for improvement.
Conclusions: The Preoperative meetings need to be developed and structured to improve communication. A way to assess the results of this conversation should be developed. Other recommendations include finding a way to improve patient involvement in this dialogue and development of skills of NAs to enhance the meeting for patients.
(Copyright © 2019 American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)